This article is from page 53 of the 2009-06-09 edition of The Clare People. OCR mistakes are to be expected so download the original SWF or the rendered page 53 JPG
“HE might go for Dail Eireann yet,” mused one Fine Gael supporter in the West County Hotel on Saturday afternoon. “With a vote like that in Killaloe he deserves his shot at it,” said another member of the consid- erable Fine Gael crew that had gath- ered around Cooney.
And, there were no dissenting voic- es, especially when the tallies turned into official votes and saw Cooney hoover up an amazing tally of 2780 first preferences — the figure was the stuff of Clare electoral history.
“I’m told it’s the highest vote ever in Clare,” reflected an elated Cooney after being declared elected with a surplus of 1154. “I never in my wild- est dreams expected to get such a vote, but all I can say is that I’m truly honoured that the people of this Kil- laloe electoral area put such faith in my by giving me such a vote. It’s a proud day for to be elected with such a huge vote.”
All that after Cllr Cooney was wor- ried about how the cards would fall in what is a new electoral area fol- lowing the merger of the old Killaloe and East Clare areas into a new super constituency in which there were six seats up for grabs.
“A big portion of my parish in Kil- kishen went into the Shannon area as did Kilmurry where I polled very well in 2004. I was worried once Kil- kishen was gone out of my area, but I worked hard over the last five years and I think the people supported me in a big way for the work that I did.
“In a way it was crazy they way they changed the electoral area. I
started canvassing back in March for this election, but I didn’t canvass all the area. I didn’t go into Clonlara, Shanonbanks or Westbury, there were Other candidates down there.
‘However, in the other parts of the constituency, if I’m really honest I started canvassing them five years ago when I started working for peo- ple in my area. I also worked for peo- ple outside my area. As a councillor, if I could help them, I would.”
The work done was reflected in his
record breaking vote, while one tally from the ballot boxes that came out of Ogonnelle really hammered home his remarkable showing. In 2004 he got 27 votes in Ogonnelloe, five years on the tallies showed him get- Wb OTearL a Roe
With such a ringing endorsement, it was no wonder that a party at- mosphere was building around Cllr Cooney from early Saturday after- noon, but all the while he was think- ing his next council term.
“IT want to do something for this people and the work starts now with being elected to represent the people of the Killaloe electoral area for the next five years.”
Cllr Cooney didn’t mention a shot at Dail Eireann — he left that to oth- ace